The captain of the El Faro container ship reported that the ship's hull had been breached, a small hatch had blown open and that the ship had lost its main propulsion unit during a distress call made on the morning of October 1.

More specific information about what Capt. Michael Davidson of Windham said during the distress call was released Tuesday afternoon by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB is investigating the ship's sinking off the coast of the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin.

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Davidson and his 32-person crew are all believed to have died at sea. The crew also included three people from Maine, Dylan Meklin and Danielle Randolph, both of Rockland, and Michael Holland, of Wilton. All four graduated from Maine Maritime Academy.

The NTSB said the U.S.N.S. Apache, a fleet ocean tug, left Virginia on Monday, headed for the last known location of the El Faro to search for the ship's wreckage and the voyage data recorder. The Apache is expected to arrive at the location by Saturday, the agency said.

The search is expected to take at least two weeks but could take longer depending on what is found, the NTSB said.

The NTSB said the El Faro left Jacksonville, Florida for San Juan, Puerto Rico, around 8:15 p.m. Sept. 29, three hours after the National Hurricane Center had issued a hurricane warning.

At 1:12 p.m. the next day, Davidson emailed a safety official with the ship's owner, TOTE Maritime, and said that he planned to take a route south of the projected path of the hurricane. Davidson said the ship would stay about 65 miles from the center of the storm.

According to an electronic alert sent by the ship at 7:17 a.m. on Oct. 1, the ship's last reported location was approximately 20 miles from the eye of the hurricane.

Earlier on Oct. 1, the National Hurricane Center predicted that the hurricane would generate 30 foot seas and sustained winds of 74 miles per hour that could reach 121 mph.

The NTSB investigation also has learned that both boilers aboard the El Faro were scheduled for service during a dry dock scheduled for early November.

TOTE Maritime also told NTSB investigators that the company planned to remove the ship from its route between Jacksonville and San Juan. Plans called for the ship to operate between Washington state and Alaska.

To prepare for the route change, TOTE had begun to modify the ship, the NTSB said. The modifications were being made during the El Faro's trips between Jacksonville and San Juan, including its last voyage, the NTSB said.

Investigators also said that the crew of the El Faro was well versed in emergency procedures and that lifeboat drills had been conducted on a weekly basis.

The Coast Guard suspended its search for the El Faro Oct. 7, six days after the ship was last heard from. During the search, the Coast Guard found a survival suit containing human remains as well as the remnants of a life boat.